Abstract
Although there are many school districts who partner with universities for teacher preparation, there is little information about how those relationships are formed and sustained. This chapter documents one example of a school–university partnership where a university partnered with a local, urban school district to provide an alternative and innovative teacher preparation pathway for teachers. More specifically, this partnership involves an on-site Master of Arts in teaching (MAT) program at the university, which is targeted and designed specifically for in-service teachers who teach locally in this urban district. This teacher preparation program is unique in that it targets early career, in-service teachers who are most vulnerable to early attrition and was created to support district efforts to retain and develop an effective workforce. The partnership brings together three separate components of the on-site MAT program that were designed in collaboration with district stakeholders; these components are: instruction, logistics, and program supports. Although this chapter is not capacious enough to cover all of the elements of this particular school–university partnership in detail, the following narrative details how this ongoing partnership was initially developed. Within the space of this chapter, one particular innovation—the instructional consultant position—will be highlighted in terms of how it was designed to support the program, and served as the catalyst for the development of a strong, palpable link between the university and the urban school district.